New Conservation Minister commits to taking action

Congratulations to Gord Mackintosh on his new post as Manitoba’s Conservation Minister. His many years in Manitoba politics, his accomplishments, and his specific experience make him capable of this challenging role.

CPAWS is pleased to hear that Minister Mackintosh is going to make the issue of the proposed peat mine in Hecla/Grindstone Provincial Park a priority. Parks are no place for industrial activity. They are for present and future generations of people and wildlife. The Province got it right when they banned commercial logging in provincial parks in 2008. We’re glad so many Manitobans are encouraging Mr. Mackintosh to forever end the possibility of peat mining in parks.

The concern around peat mining is directly linked to the protection of Lake Winnipeg, to which Minister Mackintosh has stated he will make “job one.” As peatlands filter water and help regulate its flow, they are essential in the fight to save Manitoba’s largest water body.

The Province is holding a session on February 28th to release its draft Peatlands Stewardship Strategy, the first of its kind in Canada. Kudos to the Manitoba government for this precedent-setting move. For the sake of Lake Winnipeg,

CPAWS urges Minister Mackintosh to make protection of large areas of peatland a key objective of the strategy.

Ron Thiessen

Executive Director

Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society – Manitoba chapter

The Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is celebrating Canada’s submission to the United Nations for a World Heritage Site on the east side of Lake Winnipeg – the Heart of the Boreal. The 43,000 km² World Heritage Site proposal is an initiative of five First Nations straddling the Manitoba-Ontario border to advance common interests regarding protected areas in their linked territories.

The application, supported by the respective provincial governments, was submitted to the federal government last year for review. It has now been approved and will be sent to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to consider for the prestigious international World Heritage Site designation.

“Congratulations to the First Nations that have undertaken this tireless effort and a big thanks to the federal and provincial governments for their tremendous support,” said Ron Thiessen, executive director of the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society (CPAWS) Manitoba chapter. “It’s wonderful to be part of advancing large-scale boreal protection and sustainable communities on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.”

For more information – Ron Thiessen – 204 794 4971

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• Read the press release from the Manitoba government
• View Display Panels from celebration event at the Manitoba Legislative Building
• View the people at the UNESCO celebration event

Environment Canada session in Winnipeg today

Environment Canada is hosting a session today in Winnipeg to discuss its proposed strategy under the federal Species-At-Risk Act to prevent threatened woodland caribou from continuing down the path to extinction. It’s timely to ask why are caribou in trouble in Manitoba and across the nation? How is ensuring that caribou’s boreal forest home is healthy essential to humans and all life? What needs to be done to protect this imperiled icon of our great Canadian wilderness?

In Manitoba, Boreal woodland caribou have already disappeared from their original homelands in and around Whiteshell and Riding Mountain Parks. Human development is the primary cause. There is strong scientific evidence that when large intact forests are fragmented by human disturbances, caribou populations dwindle. These disturbances include logging, mining, hydro transmission corridors and associated roads, which are increasingly spreading into even the most remote areas of the boreal forest.

Governments, First Nations, scientists, industry, and citizen organizations are all part of a growing focus on caribou survival. Why such a huge lens on this one species when there are hundreds of different critters at risk? Well, if you protect what woodland caribou need, that means you are also protecting what people and all life require to live.

Caribou’s presence indicates the health of our country’s boreal forests, which cleanse our air, provide fresh water, provide habitat for millions of birds, and store vast amounts of carbon, helping to slow global climate change. Where caribou thrive, the ecosystem is doing well; where they have disappeared, the forest is severely damaged and compromised.

Caribou require big intact boreal forests to find enough food and to avoid predators. Sadly, they no longer inhabit a wide strip of their original range in Manitoba. We need to take serious measures to make sure boreal caribou don’t continue their long slide into extinction. Recent large-scale wilderness protection on the east side of Lake Winnipeg is a good example of the kind of action that is necessary.

In examining the federal government’s proposed recovery strategy for caribou, CPAWS has some serious concerns. We’re pleased that the federal government properly identifies human disturbance as a major cause of the caribou decline, but we’re feeling uneasy about the loopholes that will allow for the continued destruction of important boreal caribou habitat.

Some of our major concerns with the strategy include:

It sets the bar too low for caribou’s long-term health by assuming that a 60% level of probability of survival is adequate. The reasons for setting the probability level so low are unexplained and leave little room for error or unanticipated events. Imagine how concerned you would be if a medical professional told you that your chances of surviving a predicament were 6 out of 10. We are recommending that the strategy require a minimum 80% level of survival probability for caribou.

It fails to set the objective of self-sustaining populations for all woodland caribou ranges. Instead, it says self-sustaining for certain populations, but not for populations that are most imperiled. In Manitoba, this leaves 6 of the 11 identified caribou ranges quite vulnerable to extensive habitat loss.

CPAWS believes that conserving enough boreal woodland caribou habitat in Manitoba and right across the country is possible while also ensuring a prosperous forest sector. We’re working to achieve both goals with other conservation organizations and forestry companies through the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement.

Canada’s boreal is the largest intact forest remaining on the planet and Manitoba is in the heart of it. It’s our responsibility to look after this globally-significant ecosystem. As part of that responsibility, we must ensure that we look after the boreal caribou and ensure that this iconic species always has enough wilderness to roam.

By fixing the federal draft recovery strategy now, while there is still time, boreal woodland caribou in Manitoba and across Canada will have a much better chance of survival and returning to a point where they are not threatened on the landscape.

To do that, we must be bolder when it comes to protecting boreal caribou habitat. We must ensure that we conserve enough interconnected wilderness for this species.

These achievements will bring us a giant leap closer to realizing the true intention of the Species-At-Risk Act, and ensuring a healthy future for caribou, humans, and all life on earth.

You can help!

Please go to http://caribouandyou.ca/ to sign the petition to protect woodland caribou and its boreal forest home.

Ron Thiessen is executive director of the Manitoba chapter the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS). Mr. Thiessen is representing CPAWS at Environment Canada’s session regarding Boreal woodland caribou.

The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is cheering the protection of a huge area of Manitoba’s Boreal Forest announced today.

The vast area on the east side of Lake Winnipeg is home to Bloodvein First Nation. They worked with the province to develop a land use plan that is now officially solidified in legislation.

Congratulations to Bloodvein First Nation for their hard work and determination to safeguard part of the world’s largest intact section of Boreal Forest. We also applaud the Manitoba government, environmental groups, and Manitoba citizens for supporting large-scale wilderness protection in the region,” said an exuberant Ron Thiessen, Executive Director of the Manitoba chapter of CPAWS.

Through a provincial campaign, CPAWS has educated and inspired tens of thousands of Manitobans to voice their support for protection of the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

This is a great day for Manitoba,” Thiessen added. “CPAWS is proud to work with all involved in protecting the Boreal’s web of life.”

The Boreal is the world’s largest source of fresh water and the northern lungs of the planet. As only about 1/5th of the world’s original forests remain intact, protecting the region on the east side of Lake Winnipeg has positive environmental implications across the globe.

Like many Manitobans, I believe provincial parks are no place for industrial activities, including peat mining. Parks are special places that should be fully protected for future generations of people and wildlife. In fact, experts are telling us we need significantly more protected lands to maintain Earth’s life-support systems and peatlands are important criteria to consider in selecting areas to conserve.

Peatlands — many of us know them as bogs or muskeg — filter our water. Locally, they are a huge component in saving Lake Winnipeg by purifying the incoming flow. Globally, the trees and soils of peatlands also greatly help in the fight against climate change by keeping the carbon they hold on the ground and away from the atmosphere.

Next month, the Manitoba government is hosting a meeting to present its draft vision of a precedent-setting boreal-peatlands stewardship strategy. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society is asking the province to announce a commitment to work with First Nations and all Manitobans to safeguard more than half of our boreal region from industrial developments along with best practices on the remaining landscape

Ron Thiessen
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society — Manitoba
Winnipeg

A great gift that’s enjoyable year round – Only $13.95 $6.98!

The 2012 Manitoba Boreal Wilderness Calendar is now here. BONUS: Order the calendar today, and you will also receive a $25 Gift Certificate to Fusion Grill!

As you flip through the months, you will see this calendar is intended to do more than simply showcase beautiful landscapes and wild creatures. We also hope to educate and activate citizens on some of the most important conservation issues facing our province.

The Calendar is now available, for you or the nature-enthusiast on your list. All proceeds go to CPAWS’ continued efforts toward achieving protection of the wild Manitoba landscapes we know and treasure.

• Order the Calendar Here …

The province asks for public comment on plans to protect two caribou ranges on the east side of Lake Winnipeg

CPAWS is pleased the draft plans acknowledge the need to protect caribou habitat. We hope the final plans will specify that these protected areas need to be large. Caribou are a sensitive species that need vast tracts of intact lands to survive.

We are concerned about the plan’s large focus on predator control and recreating habitat, as these are unproven and financially costly measures. The final plans need to make legislated habitat protection the top priority. This is the only approach that’s guaranteed to work.

CPAWS will be making official recommendations for the final action plans to the province. We’re pleased the government is providing a 90-day public comment period.

The east side of Lake Winnipeg is the heart of the world’s largest intact boreal forest. Keeping the caribou healthy there is an essential part of maintaining the area’s spectacular but delicate web of life.

The east side region is globally significant producer of fresh water and oxygen. Its many rivers also provide lifelines of clean water to Lake Winnipeg. Protecting what the caribou need protects what we all need.

CPAWS is working with all involved to secure a healthy future for the boreal forest and forest-dependant communities.

Review the caribou action plans

To comment on the plans – Dennis.Brannen@gov.mb.ca

Ottawa – The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) is handing in a review today to the federal government of its draft recovery strategy for Boreal woodland caribou, accompanied by a “report card” summarizing its findings and recommending remedial work to close loopholes that could undermine the species’ long-term survival.

Boreal woodland caribou are listed as nationally “threatened” within Canada, requiring the federal government to develop a recovery strategy under the Species-At-Risk Act. Environment Canada released the draft strategy in August, and is accepting public comments on it until October 26th. The government is expected to announce the final strategy a month after the public comment period ends.

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Spanning 1.2 billion acres, Canada’s boreal forest is the largest intact forest ecosystem on the planet. This unique environment is home to hundreds of species of migratory fish and birds, and contains carbon-rich soil and permafrost critical to the fight against global warming.

See more at the Pew Environment Group

All but one of the provincial political parties have responded to a survey from the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society (CPAWS), released today. The Conservative Party did not participate.

The survey asked questions about conserving the Boreal wilderness region, completing the Protected Areas Initiative, protecting woodland caribou, and enlarging the Fisher Bay provincial park.

“We’re pleased that all the parties that responded made commitments to protection for all of Manitoba’s natural regions,” said Ron Thiessen, executive director of the CPAWS Manitoba chapter. “We are disappointed that the Conservative Party chose not to participate and give voters information regarding their stand on these important issues.”

CPAWS is encouraging voters to consider the environmental commitments of all the political parties. The party platforms can easily be found online on their respective websites.

Survey Results:

• Green Party
• Liberal Party
• NDP
• PC – No response

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